Chapter 1159 - The Medical Affairs Section Chief

Deng Bojun had been working under Commissar Shi's Health Department for quite some time. In the early days of establishing Bairen General Hospital, although public health professionals were available to help, the day-to-day operations increasingly interfered with the clinical work of Shi Niaoren and others. Even with doctors and master's degree holders on staff, someone still had to handle the grunt work—officially termed "general affairs, logistics, and administration"—tasks too specialized for natives to manage given their modern requirements.

Originally, this work had fallen to He Ping, Zhao Yanmei's husband. But as the pharmaceutical enterprises under the Health Department kept expanding, it seemed wasteful to leave He Ping—with his pharmaceutical factory experience—in an administrative position. So he was transferred to the Health Department's Pharmaceutical and Medical Equipment General Factory to work alongside his wife.

This left general affairs without anyone in charge. The personnel department searched their files and selected a male homebody who had served as librarian at the Great Library since the crossing but had expressed strong interest, declaring "I'm most familiar with this healthcare business." This surname-Deng homebody was assigned to take charge of logistics and general affairs at Bairen General Hospital.

The early half of this surname-Deng homebody's life read as one of complete failure. As the son of a medical university professor, his knowledge was broader than his peers and his thinking highly divergent—yet he couldn't even pass high school entrance exams. Seeing his son lacked serious student material, the professor sent him to join the army, reasoning that the military environment would at least discipline him enough to test into a military academy. Unexpectedly, he couldn't even manage to be a switchboard operator as a pampered soldier's son in some important compound—he couldn't memorize the phone numbers—and his one-year service stint ended ignominiously. He came home and idled for half a year.

The professor figured he should at least find the boy a skilled trade. Drawing on his years in ophthalmology and refractive surgery, he had reputation and connections to spare. So he sent his son to apprentice at an optician's shop run by an acquaintance, preparing him to eventually open an eyewear shop with the professor serving as consultant. Fortunately, just as the surname-Deng homebody's slacker apprenticeship was about to be exposed, the professor's university suddenly issued a one-time veteran placement document to accommodate some bigwig's discharged son. The surname-Deng homebody thus wormed his way into the university's affiliated hospital, becoming a gofer in the administrative building. When his gofer life was about to hit yet another wall, the surname-Deng homebody resolutely joined the crossing.

In Shi Niaoren's view, Deng Bojun's work in the Medical Affairs Section was barely adequate—his only advantage over naturalized citizens being that he could communicate without barriers and understood what modern medicine was. Terms and complete case files would constantly roll off his tongue, enough to bluster in front of naturalized citizens. Under contemporary circumstances, serving as section chief was roughly acceptable.

Section Chief Deng was the busiest person at Bairen General Hospital—the entire hospital's and even the whole Health Department's food, drink, and bathroom needs fell under his purview. He couldn't say three sentences to anyone without interjecting, "Brother, I've got a little matter to attend to." Naturally, he wouldn't have come all the way to Hong Kong without reason—Commissar Shi had dispatched him to scout things out. His purpose was of course related to the medical tour, and naturally the groundwork for the Provincial-Harbor Hospital.

Deng Bojun smiled wordlessly, following behind Commissar Shi. The group welcomed their way to the Hong Kong Commercial Station building, where there was unavoidably another round of greetings and hospitality. Finally, he saw Shi settled in his guest room.

Because Commissar Shi was a People's Commissar-level senior cadre who needed to handle myriad affairs at all times, the guest room was a suite—with an office beyond the bedroom for working and receiving visitors.

After disembarking, Commissar Shi was inevitably exhausted in body and mind. But the Guangzhou medical tour was nothing like tours in the Green Zone or Yellow Zone. Guangzhou, though the Senate now operated almost openly there, remained technically enemy-controlled territory—at minimum an Orange Zone. Going deep into "the core of Great Ming's local governance" to conduct activities required caution. Even though Little Guo had sworn there would be absolutely no problems, Shi remained uneasy.

"Director Shi," Deng Bojun began—he wasn't accustomed to the Senate's Soviet-style titles and habitually used old-timeline honorifics, which felt both warm and indicated his healthcare system origins. "I've already arranged the Guangzhou medical tour. You've had an exhausting journey; rest in Hong Kong a few days before setting out."

"Is everything ready on the Guangzhou side too?" Shi Niaoren asked.

"Yes, it's set up at Guangzhou's Purple Sincerity Hall. I've already sent Li Mo there as an advance scout."

Though Li Mo was among the earliest batch of nurses, her academic ability wasn't up to par—she kept failing her nursing exams, and various professional courses proved a real struggle. Shi Niaoren felt she probably had no development potential in this field; all his efforts would produce a healthcare worker at best. So she was transferred to general affairs instead—she could at least read, write, and do arithmetic, and spoke decent Mandarin. As Deng Bojun's assistant, she was more than capable.

Sending her to Guangzhou as an advance scout also made sense because she could speak good Cantonese-inflected Mandarin.

(End of Chapter)